Farewell tour begins for 50-year football official

1:12 AM,
Aug. 30, 2013

Bob Lawrence, of Hebron, center, is in his 50th and final year of officiating football, and has been with this same crew for several years. From left are Mike Strohacker, of Newark; Bob Severence, of Heath; Walt Fawcett, of Hebron; and Bruce Parrish, of Newark.

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Bob Lawrence's hometown of North Lawrence, near Massillon, actually is named after his great-great grandfather.

They won't be naming anything after Bob anytime soon. Not for football officiating, anyway. Maybe they should, however. The Hebron man will start his 50th - and, he says, final - year of a career that has taken him all across the state Friday when he and his longtime crew work the Utica at Centerburg game.

Lawrence's crew is full of experience. Bob Severence, of Heath, has put in 32 years. Walt Fawcett, of Hebron, and Mike Strohacker, from Newark, check in with 24 and 22 years, ...